Chadstone SHOPPING CENTRE

Melbourne, Australia

THE FASHION CAPITAL IS NOW THE FOOD CAPITAL

Chadstone has always been known as ‘The Fashion Capital’ but now is also the food capital following a $660 million redevelopment that has reinvigorated the centre’s shopping experience. The project includes 60 new retail stores, two new state-of-the-art dining precincts, a number of espresso bars and cafes as well as a hotel and Legoland Park which are still to be completed.

The first of the two new food precincts is The Dining Terrace housing seven full-service restaurants including Neil Perry’s Burger Project, Fonda Mexican, Woodstock Pizzicheria and Marae Izakaya. The second is Food Central, a smart family focused food court with 1300 seats all offering disposable tableware. Food Central offers 23 modern food outlets including specialist high street operators such as Sauced Pasta Bar, Royal Stacks, Dainty Sichuan, Soul Origin and all the family favourite fast food majors.

Chadstone will also be home to Melbourne’s first Laduree outlet direct from Paris. The French tea room, featuring a marble bar for nine macaron lovers and table seating for 20, will sit at 12 metres high, boasting the best vantage point of Chadstone’s new retail atrium. A second Melbourne outlet for popular dumpling chain, New Shanghai (also at Emporium) is also set to launch and will be Australia’s largest, with 200 seats and a VIP dining room available on request.

Macarons from Laduree

Future Food’s Master Planning Approach:

Future Food’s 25 year working partnership with Chadstone provided us with a sound understanding of the centre’s food and beverage direction and its future food and hospitality aspirations. Future Food’s customer-centric food strategy provided a future vision for the centre’s 2020-2025 hospitality mix. We looked at the customer ‘needs and wants’ and explored how food has become a major component of modern peoples’ lives to ensure the centre provided a range of innovative, diverse and exciting dining experiences for all of it’s customers.

Food and hospitality is no longer a service to support the major activities of a shopping centre but rather are the reasons to visit. Understanding this, we aimed to elevate the food and beverage experience of Chadstone to be the anchor which drives customer traffic, gains repeat business and does so all day, seven days a week.